A Different Kind of Magic
by skygirl55
Summary: A magical AU twist on Season 3's Set Up/Count Down. 3-parter. Caskett.
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Kind of Magic**

* * *

 _A magical AU twist on Season 3's Set Up/Count Down. 3-parter. Caskett._

* * *

As yet another shiver traveled up his spine, Richard Castle gazed around the enclosed arctic space and shook his head at their crap luck. Stuck in a freezer located in the middle of a practically abandoned warehouse—what were the odds of that? Of course he and his partner did tend to end up in bizarre places over the course of their cases, but this certainly had to be one of the stranger ones, particularly considering the contents of said freezer.

Were this just a run-of-the-mill murder investigation, he might have even found amusement in their predicament. He certainly would have come up with plenty of jokes referencing being cold or frozen and there would have been no shortage of suggestions that they huddle for warmth. However, given what they knew was out there—a bomb that would decimate the city and destroy the lives of many—his mind was weighted with too much uncertainty to joke. They needed to get out of the freezer, find the bomb, and save the city in order to protect their loved ones. Unfortunately, in able to do that they needed to actually _get out of the freezer_!

Blowing warm air into his hands, Castle shivered again. They'd probably been inside the cold space two or three minutes at maximum, but given that the temperature was solidly near the zero degree mark—if not lower—his breath was already beginning to feel cool instead of hot. His cheeks stung, his ears burned, and his nose was definitely beginning to feel crisp. Their situation was certainly less than ideal, but he had full confidence they'd be able to get out. Together, they would find a way; they always did.

"So, ah, you got any bars on your phone?"

He glanced over to see Kate pulling her hood up over her head and zipping her jacket as far as it would go. "Ah, I dunno." He put his hand into his pocket, but found it difficult when trying to get his fingers to respond to the command his brain sent to grab the phone. Geez was it cold! When he finally managed to grasp the rectangular device, he held it up in front of him until he was able to read the disappointing "No Service" message on the status bar. "No. You?"

"None." He noticed her shiver after giving her response.

"Guess we won't be calling for help then, huh?" he said even though he knew his comment wasn't helpful; from the look on her face he realized that Kate felt the same.

Turning his back on her to see if he could find another point of egress that had miraculously appeared in the enclosed metal box, Castle's eyes fell on Jamal's corpse. Unbelievable. As if the cold wasn't enough of a reminder of their dire situation, they had to be trapped with a dead body. Then again, if there were ever two people unfazed by such a thing, it was them.

As his eyes skimmed the ceiling in walls in search of anything that could aid in their escape, Castle's thoughts were interrupted by a metallic thud. Turning around, he saw his partner ramming her shoulder repeatedly into the metal door. "Beckett, stop," he said immediately, but when she slammed the door once more, he walked over and placed his nearly-numb hand on her arm. "That door is made of steel; you'll hurt yourself long before you make it move an inch."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Castle, nobody knows that we're in here. Nobody even knows to look for us. We're going to freeze to death if we don't get out of here soon."

"Well maybe there's another way out."

She held her hands out flat and skimmed the air in front of her as she said, "I'm open to ideas—even crazy ones."

He huffed under his breath. Yes, he was usually the one with crazy ideas, but that was usually at a time when his ideas could come to fruition with planning and resources. He imagined even MacGyver would struggle in the same predicament. What they needed was a miracle, or some sort of wish-granting genie, or even—Oh.

 _Oh_.

He wasn't sure how he hadn't thought of it before, but he blamed it on the cold numbing his brain. The idea was crazy—definitely crazy—and also quite risky, but when it came down to dying or taking a one-in-a-million shot, he was definitely going to take the shot. Maybe he'd fail miserably but, hey, then at least he only had another few hours to live with the guilt—and her wrath.

"Okay…crazy idea—here it comes." Once he had her attention he continued with, "Maybe you should get us out of here with, um, your powers."

She blinked at him. "My what?"

"Your powers. Your magical powers."

Oh yeah, she was definitely giving him that "Castle has lost his mind" look. She placed her left fist on her waist, popped her hip out and looked at him as though he were about to go on about aliens and unicorns. "And what magical powers would those be?"

Despite his thundering heart, he maintained a steady gaze. "Your witch powers…because you're a witch."

"I'm not a witch."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Castle!"

He shook his head and simply said, "I'm sorry, Kate, but you are."

The supernatural status of his partner was not something that Castle thought about very frequently—which was, perhaps, another reason why it wasn't his gut solution after they'd been trapped. Really, he doubted he thought about it more than once or twice a month, even if he'd had it figured out from early on.

Those days, even though they weren't in serious danger of being burned at the stake, and there were laws in place making sure they weren't prohibited from being hired or being served at businesses, not many men and women with magical powers revealed their status. Sure, there was the Vegas crew and a handful of magic clubs in most major cities, but in day-to-day life? Magic didn't make a frequent appearance.

As a man fascinated by all mythical things, Castle was, of course, endlessly disappointed that he wasn't in possession of the magic gene. As the estimate was one half of one percent he was far from alone in this, but that did not stop his disappointment. Since his mother was involved in the theater, he'd met two real wizards in his time, but Kate was the first witch—at least, the first that he knew about.

That was, assuming his deduction had been correct, and he really hoped that it was, or else she was going to kill him before the frigid temperatures did.

"I am _not_ a witch." She snipped before turning back to the door and examining the locking mechanism.

Castle made to suck in a deep breath to boost his confidence, but the icy air moving down to his lungs made him cough and splutter. She turned back around with a wrinkled brow and he held up his right index finger to indicate that he was fine, but needed a minute. When he recovered, he tucked his arms tightly over his chest, now slightly annoyed she was making them suffer when she had the power to rescue them. "You are and if you're stubborn enough to let us freeze to death in here because you don't want to use your powers in front of me then I'm going to be seriously pissed at you, Beckett; seriously pissed."

She gazed at him with a rather odd mixture of surprise and stubbornness, but did not say anything.

For thirty seconds, their gazes remained locked as their standoff continued. Castle refused to back down on his point, never wavering for a moment on his stance that she was a witch. If nothing else, her silence was telling, for if he was wrong, he imagined she would have been heaving insults his way at that moment. Finally, when he felt his kneecaps beginning to tremble he snipped, "Really?" at her, and she blinked for the first time.

"Okay. Fine. Just—just give me a minute."

Castle's heart soared so high he was shocked his feet didn't leave the ground. "You mean I'm right—you're really a witch?"

"Castle! Concentrating!" she said while facing the door.

He whispered out, "Sorry," but the grin didn't leave his face; it was arguably the proudest moment of his life.

Short of seeing them perform magic, it was nearly impossible to tell a witch or wizard from a regular human. The markers were subtle and unknown to many, but during his thorough research for _Hell Hath No Fury_ he'd spoken to many experts, so he knew what to look for though he hadn't actually been looking when he noticed them in his partner. They'd merely been getting closer and closer the more they worked together and suddenly one afternoon while sitting in his chair beside her desk as he watched her work, it hit him that she might be magically inclined. He watched her more intently after that with more of his "creepy" staring until he'd seen enough to be sure, but actually watching her perform magic? That was a treat beyond his wildest imagination—it would almost be better than regaining the feeling in his toes!

For almost a full minute she stared at the door, holding her hands out in front of her a foot apart with palms facing in, almost as though she was holding an invisible basketball. She would stare intently at the door for several seconds, then blink and shake her head before trying again, almost as though she was pressing the reset button on her powers.

Finally, after ninety seconds passed, Castle heard a metallic grinding sound as one door swung open. Oddly, it was not from the center—how they had entered—but from the side. It appeared instead of picking the lock, Kate had merely popped the hinges off the exterior edge of the door and opened it that way, which was fine with the writer; he'd take warm air any way it came.

As he made to rush past her, she held out her arm to stop him. She pressed a finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet, and then crept out of the box with her gun at the ready. He tip toed to the edge of the space and watched her creep away, but he could clearly see from his location that the van carrying the bomb was gone, which was terrible for the city, but good for them; at least they weren't about to be riddled with bullets.

Castle stepped out of the freezer and walked around to the side where he would be out of the chilly air. He bounced on his heels, curling and uncurling his toes as best he could in his shoes, while simultaneously shaking out his hands and arms to restore blood flow. A minute later, Kate returned to his side and said, "Guess they're gone."

"Yeah. Don't worry—we'll find 'em," he said with as much of a smile as he could muster. "Thanks, by the way, for getting us out of there."

She merely nodded before slipping her gun back into its holster. "C'mon let's…let's get back to the twelfth and see if there are any security cameras around here."

Castle followed, unsure if they were going to talk about the new giant pink elephant in the room, or ignore it like they did everything else—including their kissing ruse from a few weeks earlier. They walked in silence to her cruiser, where she pulled a sweatshirt and an extra coat from the trunk. Her coat was far too small for him to put on, but he could use it as a makeshift blanket, which was better than nothing for his still trembling extremities.

"So," she began once they were pulling out of the parking lot and on to the main road, "how'd you know?"

He gazed over at her. "I'm not sure if you realized this or not, but I am rather observant."

She shook her head. "You've never seen me use my powers; I haven't used them in a decade."

His brow wrinkled. "A decade? Really?"

"Yes."

He pressed his lips together and considered. It didn't make sense to him that she would lie now that he knew. While he believe she was not interested in flaunting her powers, he was also certain he'd seen sparks and snippets of magic from her over the years. "I don't think so."

"Well I haven't."

"Are you sure?"

She gave him a side-eye. "Pretty sure I'd know, Castle, and I haven't, so how'd you figure it out?"

Feeling warmer now that the heat from the engine was pouring through the vehicle's air vents, he tossed the jacket in his lap to the back seat and turned to face her as best he could while ticking off reasons on his fingertips. "You have all the tell-tale markers: tall, slender figure, effervescent beauty, and eyes the change color."

On the last point, she rolled her eyes. "Hazel eyes aren't the sign of a witch."

"But your eyes aren't hazel." As someone who had spent many hours staring into them, Castle believed himself to be an expert on every square millimeter of her iris, so he knew for a fact that her eyes were not traditional hazel. "Sure—to the untrained observer they are, but witch eyes are different than regular hazel. Human hazel eyes trend green or brown in different lights or based on the colors they're surrounded by, but are always actually the same color; witch eyes change color."

Castle had seen many days on which Kate's eyes were a brilliant green, or honey brown, or even a deep chocolate. He'd also seen them flash violet and red, but only ever for a fraction of a second, and probably something a person not intimately familiar with her eyes would have picked up on.

Tapping her thumbs against the steering wheel Kate asked, "How do you know so much about this?"

He almost chuckled; why did she even need to ask that question? "Research, of course. So who do you get it from?" He asked, referring to her magical gene, which was always inherited linearly. "Your father or your mo—oh. Kate…" The moment he saw her knuckles tighten on the steering wheel he knew and—oh, god—his stomach flipped in his gut. Jesus, how had he been so insensitive? He'd been having so much fun quizzing her now that they were finally having an open and honest conversation that he'd never even made the connection between her dark history and the reason she'd want to keep her powers a secret.

"She was, wasn't she? She…she was…"

"Yes," She finished for him. "We believe she was killed for being a witch."

Castle felt his heart ache as he drew his next conclusion, "But you can't know for sure because if you revealed to the cops who she really was, they would have known that you-"

"Yes." She rasped out.

Of course, it was not a guarantee that a witch's child would also be magically inclined. Though he hadn't done as much research with witch genealogy, he did know that the magic genes were strongly tied with women, though the research was unclear as to why, but witches outnumbered wizards almost three-to-one. Also, the female children of witches were almost ten times more likely to be witches themselves versus the male children of wizards. Thus, if Kate had revealed to the police that her mother was a witch, they would have certainly assumed she was one as well.

Had Johanna's murder taken place in present day, that factor probably would not have made that much of a difference, but a decade earlier would have been the tail end of the Second Salem movement, just before the witch-and-wizard protection laws were put into place. Back then, the general public did not take kindly to those with powers—even then there were certainly pockets where those with magic powers would struggle to live, particularly in rural areas. Given all that he knew about the prejudices, he understood why Kate had kept that factor a secret, though he also imagined she wondered if it would have made a difference in solving the case.

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you."

As they neared mid-town, Castle decided to lighten the mood with a story he hoped would distract her. Plus, he wanted to confirm his own suspicions as an ulterior motive. "You want to know when I knew for sure that you were a witch?"

She gave a rather sarcastic shrug. "Sure. Why not?"

"Remember that car accident we had about six months ago?"

She glanced over at him. "That guy that ran the red light?"

He nodded. They had been on their way to interview a suspect traveling at normal speed with no lights on. As the light turned green, Kate moved into the intersection, when an asshole with no respect for traffic laws or common decency sped through the red light like he was doing the Indy 500. Unfortunately, Castle's side of the vehicle had been in his direct path.

"I'd always suspected—mostly because of the eyes—but that's when I knew for sure—when that EMT said he had no idea how the door didn't break my arm and leg." In fact, other than a sore neck for a few days, he didn't have so much as a scratch. Kate, on the other hand, had a cut above her eye, and had fractured her pinky finger when it hit the dash.

Kate's cheeks flushed and her eyes darted nervously back towards the road. "I, ah, I meant what I said—I haven't purposely used my powers in over a decade, but…but they're also tied to my emotions. If I'm scared or I have a lot of adrenaline, things will sometimes just happen. I saw that car a split second before it hit and I thought, 'Don't let it hurt him.'"

He smiled, touched equally by her sentiments and the fact that she trusted him with the truth. "Thank you."

They rode in a comfortable silence for the next ten blocks until Kate parked her cruiser in a spot out in front of the Twelfth. She pulled the key from the ignition, but did not move to open her door. Instead, she rotated her body towards his, a grave expression on her face. "Castle, you can't tell anyone about me—what I really am."

He shook his head as he never had intentions to do so. "Secret's safe with me, Beckett."

Her voice turning more intense, she continued, "No, I mean you can't tell anyone— _ever_. And you sure as hell can't make Nikki Heat."

"Whoa Beckett." He cut her off by raising his hands up, palms facing out. "No—I'd never. I promise—I won't tell anyone; not even Mother or Alexis." Though he knew he could skirt boundaries at times (like when he used her mother's murder as part of Nikki's back story) he knew full well when to draw the line. The public was well enough aware that Kate was Nikki's real-life counterpart, and by calling out Nikki as a witch, he would indirectly be doing the same to Kate, and he wouldn't compromise or life or safety in that way—not ever.

"No one knows Castle, so you can't-"

"No one? Not even Josh?"

She shook her head. "Only my father."

"No one," he repeated a bit dumbly, still trying to process. She nodded her head and his next inquiry popped out without a thought. "Why? How?"

She turned to face the steering wheel once more while saying, "I was born a witch, Castle; that doesn't mean I want to be one."

The finality of her statement made his gut roll uncomfortably. Surely, she couldn't mean that. Good, bad, or otherwise, every bit of her complied together to make up the woman she was. Her mother's murder, her father's struggle with alcoholism, her magic powers—without any of those pieces she would not be the extraordinary woman who sat before him, even if she wished they were not part of her history. The same was true of himself with his absent father and cheating ex-wives, but again, they made him who he was and though he might not have chosen them if given the option, he didn't shun them, but accepted them and grew from them.

"But being a witch is part of who you are—part of what makes you you. Like me: I was raised by a single mother and that's why I am who I am. Do I wish I didn't have to grow up without a father figure in my life? Do I wonder who I would be if I had? Of course, but I can't change it and no matter how much I don't like it, it is something that made me who I am today. These powers are a part of you and you should embrace them. I'm not saying wear a sign around your neck that says, 'Hi, I'm Kate and I'm a witch,' but your close friends would understand. Ryan and Esposito would understand. And, my god Kate, the man you're in a relationship with should understand. How else could he know the real you?"

She gazed over at him, her chest rising and falling a bit faster than normal, for almost a full minute before she shook her head, reached over and popped open the car door. "C'mon; we have figure out where that bomb went." With that, she stepped out of the car and walked towards the precinct without looking back.

Huffing out a breath, Castle mirrored her actions and trailed after her. Evidently, they were going back to not talking about things. As he jogged after her to catch up before the elevator car ascended without him, he silently hoped that once their latest case was over they'd be able to talk for real. Even if he had figured it out and called her out on it, the fact that he was the only person she'd ever been open with about her powers had to mean something—it just had to.

* * *

 **A/N** : I swear I don't know where i get some of these ideas lol... there are 2 more parts


	2. Chapter 2

"Dispatch, this is One Lincoln Forty. We found the bomb on 55th and 11th."

Castle let out a huffed breath as he stared down at the bomb clock before them. First they were trapped in a freezer and now they were literally inches from a bomb with an ever-shrinking detonation window that would certainly destroy the city; they really were having a week.

Despite the fact that the timeclock barely showed a minute left, the writer was not worried. Both he and his partner worked best under pressure and while they had not yet faced a bomb together, staring down the barrel of a gun was equally as deadly, and they had done that several times. Besides, if nothing else, Castle was certain Kate's powers could terminate the threat quite easily so, in his mind, there was no reason to worry.

"One Lincoln Forty copy. Bomb Squad is en route. ETA three minutes."

Castle glanced over as the wide-eyed detective shook her head. "That's about two minutes too late."

"Stand by," came the crackled voice from dispatch.

Though Kate's cheeks turned a few shades paler, the writer didn't notice. Instead, he merely smiled, bounced up on his toes and nodded in approval. Calling for help—that was a great ruse. She'd really sold it too—sounding very desperate and concerned. Now, she was free to stop the bomb and act completely stunned and relieved when help did arrive thereby deflecting any suspicion away from her. He, of course, would happily play along with all the correct emotions and maybe they'd even go out and have a drink and a laugh in celebration once all the paperwork was done.

As the clock ticked past the fifty second mark he said with a sweeping hand gesture towards the menacing object, "Well, here's your moment Beckett."

She blinked up at him. "What does that mean?"

"Pull out your wand and stop the bomb."

"I don't have a wand!"

He shrugged. "Okay so stop it with your mind."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because I have no idea how."

His confidence still intact he said, "Well you figured out the freezer door, so you can figure out this, too…just as long as you do that in the next forty-five seconds."

She took a step towards the bomb and gazed at it as though just blinking at it too frequently would cause it to detonate. Turning back to her partner, she said with a trembling voice. "Castle—I can't I don't…if I-"

"Hey," he began, his tone as smooth and reassuring as ever. He stepped forward, place a hand on each of her shoulders, and squeezed gently. "It's okay. Take a deep breath, shut your eyes, and think—you can do this."

He watched her take in the deep breath, but she didn't shut her eyes. Instead, she brushed the underside of her nose with her gloved hand and shook her head. "No—No I can't. If I…then… it could blow up and I—you have to go. Shut your eyes."

At her firm command, he took a half step back and dropped his arms back down to his sides. "What? Why?"

"I—I'll send you away so you don't get hurt. So you'll be safe in case-"

"No." He refused, placing his left hand on her right bicep. "I'm staying here with you, Beckett."

Her eyes frantically searched his. "Castle."

When she didn't continue, he ventured a glance over at the bomb clock and reported the time to be, "Thirty seconds."

"You need to-"

"I'm not leaving. We're partners and we're going to figure this out together."

When he gave her a promising smile, she nodded her head and stepped up beside the bomb. "My powers, I…I need to be able to see something—visualize it to change it, but I can't see inside this timer."

"Is there a lid we can pop off?"

"I…I don't know. We could trigger something. And if I can't see inside, I can't know what to change—I could do something to detonate it."

Castle thought on this predicament for a moment. "Can't you just…I don't know—freeze it or something?"

She glanced over at him, her brow wrinkling. "Like with ice? What if I short it out and it goes off?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, then; try something else."

She let out a half-sob, half-scream. "I don't, Castle, I don't know! I don't know! I can't fix everything I—I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

His body flushing with fear for the first time, he stepped up and put one arm around his partner's back. Of course it wasn't her fault and there was nothing for her to apologize for; she hadn't built the bomb. He'd thought it would be simple; he thought it would be easy, but that showed how wrong his assumption had been. He had barely known about her abilities for eighteen hours and he hadn't just jumped to conclusions—he'd practically sky-dived to them.

"No, Beckett; it's not your fault." He promised as he rubbed her arm. She covered her face with her gloved hands and leaned her head against his shoulder, mumbling out another apology despite his soothing words.

Glancing back at the timer clock, he saw it was nearly down to fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds—fifteen seconds until they would be obliterated and turned to dust. God, it wasn't fair. He still had so much life left to live—so did she! He had just found out something that made his partner quite possibly _the coolest_ person he had ever met and he wasn't nearly done having fun with that yet.

But Kate, god, Kate—his partner and (arguably) best friend. The coolest, most extraordinary woman he'd ever met. It couldn't end yet, because their time hadn't come. Even if he was about to die with her in his arms, it still wasn't enough. They'd barely kissed, never made love, and he refused to let the universe cheat him out of that experience. It wasn't their time yet, he knew it.

"I—I don't want it to end this way."

Her arm curled around his back and squeezed. "Neither do I."

"No I mean." He pushed himself away from her embrace and gazed down at her tear-filled eyes. "I won't let it end this way."

He took a step towards the bomb just as she, began, "Castle, what are you-" but she stopped when he turned to face her with determination in his eyes.

Castle felt the mess of wires protruding from the metal timer box and curled his fingers around them. He was about to do quite possibly the most moronic thing he had ever done in his entire life. It would, more than likely, be the last thing that he ever did, but at least it was an idea—at least it gave them a chance however fractionally small and if he ended their lives five seconds sooner than they otherwise would have, so be it; at least he'd taken a shot.

He took one extra moment to gaze at the lovely face of his partner, knowing that if he had to choose, he unquestionably would have wanted to leave the earth with her face as the last image his eyes saw. Despite the grooves in her brow and the tightness in her lips she was still beautiful, and strong, and more incredible than he ever realized. As he stared into her eyes, which at that moment reflected a purple so dark it was almost black, he knew exactly what his last words would be.

"I love you, Kate," he said before snatching all the wires in one swift motion. His immediate reaction was to then duck and cower away from the vehicle, but the moment he heard his partner stammer out his name, he knew he'd done the right thing, for if his actions had triggered the bomb, they would have died instantly.

"Ca-Castle!?"

He gazed down at the mess of wires in his hand and promptly dropped them to the ground. Gazing back and forth between the bundle of multicolor strings and the van he breathed out, "Holy…." But his thoughts were interrupted by his partner smacking her hands into his arm.

"Oh god Castle!"

He glanced over at her, the joy cascading across her face, and fell in love with her all over again. Without a second of thought he launched himself towards her and gathered her up in his arms, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh my god—I can't believe that worked!"

"Castle—oh, my god, you…you…" Her voice drifted off as she slid away from his embrace and glanced down at the bomb's time clock that displayed two seconds remaining. She let out a relieved laugh and then turned back to face him once more. "The bomb squad is not going to believe this."

The writer puffed out his chest and smiled. "Well, they'll have to, because I just diffused a bomb a hell of a lot faster than they would have."

She rolled her eyes. "Probably shouldn't tell them that."

But as the sirens drew nearer and her elbow nudged his side playfully, Castle's smile only grew wider. They'd come so close—so disturbingly close—but they'd made it.

They still had a chance.

* * *

"Hey, C'mon in." Castle opened the door of his apartment to reveal his lovely partner dressed down in jeans and a long-sleeved top. Her hair hung in uneven curls, still appearing slightly damp, and her face was fresh; it appeared that after her shower she only put on the slightest hint of mascara, which he could not have been more pleased with. She was beautiful no matter how much makeup she wore.

"Can I get you a drink?"

She shook her head and bent down to unzip her boots just inside the door. "Not right now, thanks."

They'd parted just a few hours earlier after being debriefed by Fallon…and then answering Ryan, Esposito, and Montgomery's rapid-fire questions. She had a creatively worded report to file and though he offered to stay and sit with her—a rare, but not unheard of occurrence—she waved him off, telling him to go home and speak with his mother and daughter. Before he left, he passed along the invitation for them to meet up and talk in private after everything that had happened, and she agreed to come to his place after her work was done.

"Ah, after you left Montgomery told me that the mayor will be mailing us medals of honor."

He grinned. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "Yes. The ceremony can't be public, obviously, but he wanted to acknowledge the fact that we quote, 'used our high-level investigative skills to save the city.'"

His grin morphed into a smirk. "Or, you know, a random-ass guess."

She smiled. "Basically—but we won't tell him that."

"Absolutely not."

He led the way to the couch and they sat a cushion apart. He felt there was so much for them to talk about, he wasn't exactly sure where to begin, but fortunately she saved him from having to stammer out a joke just to break the quiet by saying, "I broke up with Josh—officially." Tucking her hands in between her knees she added with a small smile, "Wanted you to know that."

His eyes flared wide as doctor-motorcycle-boy was not going to be the first subject he brought up that night. "You—oh. Okay."

She gazed at him from beneath the curtain of hair covering part of her face. "You were right about me hiding who I am. I don't think I'm ready to tell people like Ryan and Espo about my powers yet, but if I'm in a relationship with a man, he should know who I really am and Josh isn't that man—for a million different reasons.

"When I got home last night I thought about calling him and telling him and…it terrified me. I didn't think he'd get it. He'd never said anything against witches or wizards; I don't think the subject ever even came up, but I just didn't think he'd get it…like he didn't get so much of me. So instead I called him and told him it was over."

Castle pressed his lips together as he processed the variety of emotions her comments sparked within him. When their case first broke, she had told him he was going on another Doctors Without Borders mission, which meant their breakup was not only over the phone, but a long-distance one as well. As Castle had no reason to hate Josh other than the fact that he was with the woman he wanted, he did feel for the man. Losing anyone in such a way had to be a blow, losing Kate Beckett even more so.

On the other hand, Kate breaking up with Josh opened the door wide open for a relationship between the two of them, which was quite a thrilling prospect. Of course Kate would need time to process and heal from her breakup and as her friend he was more than willing to give her that time. She was worth waiting for.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thanks, but I know it was the right thing to do." After a few moments of silence, she sat up, rested her palms against her knees, and gazed at him with a pleasant smile. "You know what else I've been thinking about?"

"What?"

"How glad I am that you know I'm a witch."

He grinned so wide his cheeks began to hurt, but Castle didn't mind, because he felt the same. In fact, he believed it was his most favorite thing he knew about her—which was saying something. "Yeah?"

"I'm really glad, actually. It's a relief!" She opened her arms up and dropped them down at her sides as though he'd relieved a literal weight form her. "For the first time since I was a teenager I don't have to hide or be afraid I'll slip and scare someone away."

Scare him away? Was she crazy? This knowledge only drew him in further! "Are you kidding me? This is AWESOME!"

She chuckled. "It's… something."

Feeling like a kid who'd just been dropped off at Disneyworld on his birthday, he scooted a few inches closer to her and requested, "Can I ask you things now? Because I have, like, five million questions." Actually, five million seemed like an underestimate but he had to start somewhere.

Her gaze turned suspicious. "Why don't you start with just a few questions?"

His shoulders rounded with slight disappointment, but he agreed and began mentally filtering his question list to ask the most pertinent ones. "So, you don't need a wand, right? You can just think stuff and it happens?"

"For the most part, yeah."

"Do you have a spell book? Or a cauldron?"

She laughed. "No. My grandmother had a cauldron; she made potions, but it's a lot of work when I never really found the need for them."

Potions! He hadn't found out much information about those during his research, so he made a mental note to grill her about those later on. "What can you do then? You unlocked the freezer door but can you fly? Or do you need a broom?"

"No brooms. I can levitate. I never tried flying more than a few feet from the ground, though maybe I could with practice."

He let out a squeal of delight. Flying! That was even more awesome! "Can you…disappear and reappear somewhere?"

She waggled her head back and forth. "Yes—within limitations. My powers are strongly focused around visualization—which is why I couldn't diffuse that bomb, but I could unhinge the freezer door, because I could see what to do. So, I can only go places I can visualize clearly. Like, I could leave here and go to my apartment, but I can't go someplace I've never been before."

He nodded as this made perfect sense in his mind. Teleportation-like powers—it was getting better and better! He knew that she had not used her powers in the last decade since she said so, but he instantly wondered why she'd bother with the subway or taxis when she could just materialize somewhere. He supposed one of the reasons could be for secrecy reasons. If there were security cameras at the precinct she couldn't just disappear and pop herself back to her apartment just in case someone was looking. Still, the fact that she _could_ was still amazing.

"Could you take me with you?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No—that would be dangerous; I could hurt you."

His brow wrinkled. "But…out on the street today you said you said you were going to send me away to keep me safe."

She gave a wry smile. "Yeah but I could have hurt you. Beside me, you would certainly have died, but if I'd sent you away and you were slightly hurt, that would be better than death."

He nodded. "Fair enough, but you could make me fly, right?"

A breathy half-laugh escaped her lips. "Um, I guess?"

He practically giggled as he sat up as straight as he could on the couch and placed his hands on his thighs before looking over at her. "Okay—do it; I'm ready."

"Castle this isn't show and tell," she pointed out with an eye roll.

His shoulders slumped and he clasped his hands in front of him, practically begging her. "Please Beckett? I swear it'll be the last thing I ask you for tonight." Even though it pained him to suppress his list of questions, he really, _really_ wanted to know what it felt like to fly.

She stared him down for twenty seconds before nodding her head. "Fine. Just try to be really still, okay?"

He happily obliged and sat as statuesque as he could manage with his heart humming so rapidly. He watched her face as she concentrated her eyes on his torso and then, with the subtle flick of her fingers, he felt his body lift several inches off the couch. He let out an, "Oohh Beckett!" as he gazed down at her from above. The sensation was so bizarre—floating and weightless, yet still feeling like an invisible string was hooked to his belly button and pulling him back towards the ground.

Barely ten seconds after he'd lifted up, he felt himself lower again as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Wha—no I'm fine. Don't stop!"

She nodded and said, "Sorry," and then flicked her hand once more, making his body rise up high enough so that the bottom of his feet were nearly level with the top of the couch.

"Oh man! This is the best day ever!"

She laughed and waved her fingers towards the floor, slowly lowering him from his elevated state. "Well, yeah; we saved the city."

Castle blinked when he felt his rear come in contact with the sofa once more. In the joy over his first flight, he had nearly forgotten about the bomb that almost took their lives. Transporting himself back to that moment, he realized that the confession he meant to be his last on earth, was actually not. They had both survived, and thus she was well aware of his almost-deathbed confession. "Listen, Kate, about what I said..."

She shook her head and pushed herself up from her seat, walking back towards the entry way. "I know it was in the moment, Castle; don't worry about it."

He stood slowly, following her. "But it…wasn't…" No, he'd loved Kate Beckett for quite some time. Arguably for nearly a year but certainly those feelings had bloomed along with the regeneration of their partnership. They had unquestionably been the reason he broke up with Gina (again), and why he would forever define his life from the point before he kissed her and all the moments after. He loved her and wasn't at all sorry that she knew.

She turned around to face him, her arms tucked around her body. "Castle…I just broke up with Josh."

He bobbed his head. "I know that, and I'm not asking for anything right now other than to be your friend." They had time. Thanks to his spur-of-the-moment grab for those wires, they had a lifetime of it, and he would wait as long as she needed.

Kate sucked in a deep breath and dropped her chin. "Okay."

He grinned instantly. "Okay." In that moment, he nearly levitated off the ground without her assistance; he was too overjoyed. She hadn't shied away or hedged about their future together; she had more or less committed, accepted his love and agreed they would one day be together. It really was the best day ever, but… "Oh—except maybe could I have a hug?"

A laugh bubbled from her chest. "You saved the city, Castle. I think the least I can do is give you another hug."

She opened her arms when he stepped forward, sliding them around his waist as he bracketed her shoulders with his. He pulled her tightly against him, skimming his fingers over her shoulders, and nudging his head against hers before whispering, "I'm so excited you're a witch."

He felt her laugh. "You've made that very clear."

"Sorry am I being annoying."

"No more than usual."

Though he could tell by her tone that she was joking, he still grumbled out her name. She pulled back a moment later, smile still on her face, but when she tucked her hair behind her ears, she began to drift towards the door.

"I should go, it's getting late…"

Not willing to let his favorite person escape so quickly, he followed her. "You sure? We could watch a movie."

She reached out for one her boots as she said, "No. I…I need some time to think, process."

That was fair and he didn't want her to rush. He wanted her one hundred percent ready when they finally became a couple so they could be one that lasted. "Sure. I'll, ah, see you tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "Montgomery gave me the day off."

"Oh…the next day then?"

Zipping up the second boot, she casually suggested, "Unless you want to get lunch?"

Castle's heart nearly jumped right out of his throat. A meal with Kate Beckett on her day off? That was just the kind of life-affirming celebration he needed. "Lunch would be great, Beckett."

"Okay." She agreed, but as she reached for the door, she offered him a smile. "See you then."

* * *

 **A/N** : Thank you all so much for your reviews! The final part will be posted Saturday.


	3. Chapter 3

"So…final verdict on the new Thai place?" Castle asked as he deposited his take-out container into the garbage can in her kitchen. He turned back to find his partner displayed a scrunched nose and was waggling her hand back and forth in an uncommitted manner. "Really? I thought it was good." It was certainly popular enough—they would have had to wait over an hour for a table in the restaurant, which was why they ended up getting take-out and eating at her place.

"I dunno; I didn't think the sauce was that great. Maybe I went too mild?"

He smiled at her. "There's your problem, Beckett—always err on the spicy side."

She laughed. "Says the man who practically drank ranch dip right from the container the last time we had wings."

He cleared his throat and tried not to wince at the memory of how aflame his mouth had felt. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm sure," she said while rolling her eyes.

As she walked their empty wine glasses to the sink, he leaned back against the kitchen counter and gazed at her, his heart rate speeding a bit. For the prior eight weeks they'd been sharing dinner an average of four times a week. Sometimes he'd cook for them or she'd eat with his family, and other nights they'd go out. He thought of each of these occurrences as unofficial dates. They were in the pre-couple stage where other than hugs goodnight their relationship lacked a physical element—but that was okay with him, she was still getting over her relationship with Josh and he was waiting patiently by her side. Still, there needed to come a time when they moved into the full relationship stage and he hoped that time was quickly approaching.

A few weeks prior, when they'd gone to see _Forbidden Planet_ and then gone out for dessert, he'd wanted to kiss her so bad it almost hurt to restrain himself, but he managed. Still, when she'd stroked his arm and whispered something in his ear during the film, the feelings stirring in his gut had been hard to deny. Ever since, every soft touch of hers had him nearly growling with desire. If she needed more time, that was fine, but he wanted to know where they stood on the subject.

"So, um, I was thinking…we've been having dinner more frequently, and you know I'd never want to rush you, but I was just wondering…"

His voice drifted off when she turned to face him, drying her hands on her jeans. Her hair was swept back from her face and piled into a messy bun at the crown of her head and, god, she'd never looked more beautiful. He took a step forward which, in her tight kitchen, was enough to bring them almost toe-to-toe. He reached out his left hand towards her face, intent on cradling her jaw, but found himself frozen barely an inch away from touching her. He furrowed his brow and tried to look down at his hand to see why it was stalled, but found his head couldn't move either. "What the…" He began to momentarily panic, fearful of what bizarre medical condition had overtaken his body, when he spotted the smirk on his partner's face and grumbled out her name; she giggled.

"I'm sorry."

He huffed out a breath, thankful he was still able to move his jaw and blink his eyes. "Did you freeze me?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Other than his requests for demonstrations of her powers, her use of them in his presence had been quite limited. Once she'd lit a candle in lieu of retrieving a lighter and she'd also summoned a television remoted that had accidentally fallen behind the couch, but otherwise she remained magic-free.

"Because…" She paused to grip his frozen outstretched hand and press her lips into his palm. "This is payback for every serious moment of mine you hammed up."

He let out a blip of laughter. "Touché. Will you unfreeze me now?"

She shook her head and released is hand so he she could circle his frozen from. "In a minute..."

He grumbled as he wondered what she might do to him now that he was helpless. The first thing that came to mind was that she would undo his belt and let his pants fall to the ground—which was something he would have done to one of the boys if given the chance—but the more he thought about it the more he realized he wouldn't mind being pants-less in front of Kate.

As his statuesque state persisted past the two minute mark, he grumbled out his displeasure. "This is kind of freaky, Kate; I can't feel anything below my jaw." It really was an odd sensation—not at all like the traditional "pins and needles" numbness one would occasionally experience. More so, it felt as though his body was encased in a cement block filled with numbing solution.

She circled back around so that she could face him, her expression curious. "Really? Interesting. I haven't frozen anyone since I was a kid so I guess I didn't think about it."

He laughed inwardly at the mental image of wild-child Kate in her younger days using her powers without hesitation. "Dare I ask the longest you've frozen someone for?"

"Froze my dad for about fifteen minutes once. He was so mad."

Fifteen minutes! God, he was suffering after two! "Why'd you do that?"

She gave an impish smile. "I wanted to finish watching a cartoon before he made me go to bed."

He laughed as he definitely could have seen himself doing the same. "That's great...but I'd appreciate it better if you—ah!" He cried out with relief when his body was released from her spell and he was able to drop his arm and shake out his limbs. "Thank you!" He gazed down at his left hand, opening and closing his fist rapidly as the feeling slowly returned.

"You're welcome. Are your fingers okay?"

"Yes just...tingly…" His voice drifted off when he looked up and caught her gaze. Her eyes now reflected a dark chocolate tone that sparkled with gold flecks every few seconds. He swallowed involuntarily. "So, um, as I was saying-"

But before he could continue, she stopped forward, placed her right hand against his jaw, and kissed him sweetly. She then grazed her thumb just beneath his bottom lip as she said, "I'm ready now."

He grasped her hips with his hands and pulled her body into his. Her smiled grew wider as her hands found his biceps and she brushed her lips against his jaw. "It's not too soon?"

She hummed with her lips on his cheek. "I think we've waited long enough, don't you?" Then, with that, she pressed her mouth of over his, giving him the deep kiss he'd wanted for weeks and—oh, god, it was perfect. She was perfect.

They kissed in the kitchen for several moments before she tugged at his shirt collar and began backing her way towards the bedroom. When he finally realized where they were going he hesitated and stammered out, "Wh...oh god, wait—should you warn me about anything?"

Her brow furrowed. "...such as...?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Is having sex with a witch different than with a non-witch?"

She tiled her head to the side as her arms crossed over her chest. "Oh you mean like the sparks that shoot out my ears when I orgasm?"

"REALLY?!"

"No!" she half-laughed, half-yelled at him. Then she rolled her eyes and smacked his chest playfully. "Castle—think about it: how could I have kept my secret from every boyfriend if they could tell when we had sex?"

His expression morphed into a frown as he realized just how correct her statement was and how absurd he must have sounded. "Oh. Right. Sorry; I just got excited."

Her teeth grazed over her bottom lip and she gazed up at him. "Are you disappointed now?"

He stepped up to her, cupping her jaw with his right hand and resting his thumb at the end of her chin so he could tilt her face up towards his. "To make love to you? Not possible." When a soft rose color crept into her cheeks, he brushed his lips over hers and then placed his hand in the center of her back as they continued towards her bedroom, the excitement inside him practically bubbling over the edge. He knew with one hundred percent certainty that the night they were about to embark on would have a different kind of magic than he'd ever experienced before—and he couldn't wait.

* * *

Standing up in front of the trio of his friends sitting on the large sectional sofa in his apartment, Castle cleared his throat and called the group to attention. "Hey, everyone, ah, thanks for coming today to our little get together. Can I get anyone another drink or a-"

"Castle!" Lanie cut off his nervous commentary with an exasperated eye roll. "C'mon stop stalling—we want to hear the announcement!"

The writer bobbed his head, unable to blame the ME for her impatience; if their situations had been reversed and he received a somewhat mysterious invitation to her apartment, he would have been practically bursting through his skin. "Ok then let me turn it over to the lady of the hour and-"

"Oooh you are pregnant!" Lanie squealed happily and Castle turned his eyes to Kate to watch as her eyes flashed a pink hue and her skin paled.

"What—no! No, no." She insisted, pulling her hands out of her back jean pockets as she stepped up beside the writer. "I am not pregnant."

Lanie's shoulder's rounded. "What?"

"I'm not pregnant."

"She's really not—that's not the announcement." Castle added for emphasis. A baby would be wonderful and they'd get their someday when the time was right, but they'd barely been together for more than a year and he knew Kate wanted them to be married before they started their family.

The ME huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "But you're already engaged so what's this announcement about?"

The writer pressed his lips together and second guessed his decision to call their get-together an announcement. Technically that was correct terminology, though he understood why Lanie had jumped to the baby conclusion when engagement was off the table. Generally, marriage or babies were the major announcements couples made; there weren't enough witches and wizards in the world for, "I have magical powers" to even come close to any sort of top ten list.

In part, their choice to include the announcement word in their get together had been insurance for Kate so she wouldn't back out—again. It had taken her three tries to tell his mother and daughter about her magical status, but in the end both red-heads had openly embraced her and her powers, promising her it changed nothing of how they felt for her. Over the duration of their relationship, Castle was pleased to see Kate blossom into a woman who was no longer ashamed or afraid of her powers and who had no issues with using them regularly—particularly if they made household chores easier. After many long conversations on the subject, she had finally decided to reveal the truth to their closest group of friends. Though Castle knew she still felt nervous about it, he remained confident that neither Lanie, Esposito, nor Ryan would treat her any differently after they knew.

Kate offered her fiancé a small smile before turning to the group and clasping her hands together in front of her. "It's, um, something I probably should have told you guys a long time ago, but I was afraid. Castle helped me see that being afraid of who I am is silly and unnecessary so now I want you guys to know: I'm a witch."

For nearly thirty seconds, no one reacted. The trio stared up at her as Kate's knuckles grew whiter from how tightly she wrung her hands together. Castle reached out and placed his hand at the small of her back, patiently waiting for his friends to absorb and process the news. If they hadn't picked up on the sings like he had—and he imagined that they hadn't—this news would come as quite a shock.

Lanie was the first to speak when she echoed, "You're a witch?"

"Yes."

Fifteen more seconds passed before Esposito clicked his tongue and proclaimed, "You're a witch and you haven't installed a mute button on him yet?!" as he gestured loosely towards the writer.

While Castle refuted the comment with a wounded, "Hey!" Kate grinned and glanced up at him, "I couldn't do a button…maybe a spell?"

Removing his hand from her back, Castle pouted and stuffed his hands down into his pockets. "Seriously. I don't talk that much."

"Yeah you do." Lanie told him quickly before turning to Kate and asking, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

She shrugged a bit dumbly. "I…I wasn't sure if you guys would…"

Esposito stood off the couch. "What? Wouldn't want to be partners anymore? We're ride or die at this point, chica."

She smiled and accepted his hug with a thank you. A moment later, Ryan stood as well and said, "Doesn't make any difference to me—except maybe you're a little cooler."

She laughed and hugged him as well. "Thanks Kevin."

When the ME took her turn at hugging, she said, "You could have told me, you know? But I'm glad you did now. …and also I kind of wish you were pregnant."

"Lanie!"

"Well that would have been more fun—for me."

"For all of us." Espo added. "Can you imagine a baby that's half Castle and half witch?"

"You mean one hundred percent awesome." The writer beamed.

Kate laughed and gave his arm a little shrug, a pinkness creeping into her cheeks. "Castle…"

"'s true—I can't wait. I hope they're all magically inclined," he said, meaning every word, because the only thing better than having children with Kate Beckett would be having witch and wizard children with Kate Beckett—especially when he could convince them to use their magic in mischievous ways.

Kate arched her eyebrow at him. "Yeah? Wouldn't you be jealous?"

He shook his head confidently. "Not at all, because they'd be ours."

* * *

 **A/N** : Thank you all so much for reading & reviewing this little ficlet of mine! I hope you enjoyed this magical twist on Castle

Up next is mini-fic **The Illusion of Perfect** which i previewed on my tumblr this week. It's...hard to describe. Futuristic AU with a twist of Forbidden Romance...yeah, i'll leave you with that :)


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